Fastener-inserting machine



FASTENER INSERTING MACHINE Filed Dec. 31, 1924 Fig.1.

M46 K w Patented Mar. 12, 1929.

UNITE STATES rarer orrica.

LESLIE HUGH-BENNION AND REGINALD BOYD WOODCOCK, OF LEICESTER, ENGLAND,

ASSIGNORS. TO UNITED SHOE MACHINERY CORPORATION, OF PATERSON, JERSEY, A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

ruasrrnmn-msnn'rme MACHINE.

Application filed-December 31, 1924, Serial No. 759,041, and in Great Britain January 19, 1924.

This invention relates to fastening-insertingrnachines and is illustratively disclosed herein. as embodied in a machine having novel means for positioning metal shank stifiening elements with relation to leather or leather-board-shank pieces and means for securing such parts together.

In} the manufacture of certain types of shanks it is usual to tack 'a strip of steel to a leather orleathe'rboard base, the strip of steel being provided adjacent to its ends with a pair of tack-receiving perforations or holes; When these two pieces are tacked together by-hand, it is a slow and laborious operation to locate the two pieces in proper relative. position, push the point of a tack through the hole in the steel strip and then pick up a hammer and drive the tack without. allowing the-parts to shift or the tack tobe displaced before it is driven.

It'is, accordingly, an object of the present invention to provide improved mechanism forfanilitating the positioning of work pieces, such as shanks or other analogous ar- 2 ticles,. and the holding of such pieces in position. during the-performance of an operationsuch as the insertion of a fastening.

Imiaccord-ance with this object, the il-lus trated.:fastening-inserting machine is provided. with a work-positioning member or feeler arranged to be threaded through ahole-in the work to locate the hole in the lineofdrive of the driver of the machine andito be removed from the line of drive prior totheinsertion of the fastening. The

illustrated machine, moreover, is also provided with means-for clamping the work in position-relatively to the line of drive after it has been so located but before the removal .ofi,the work-positioning member.

With the above, and other objects and featunes-in view the inventionwill now be described-in connection with the accompanying drawings and-pointed out in the claims.

Inthe drawings,

Eig-.- 1- is a-side elevation of part of the head "of .a fastening-inserting machine constructed. in accordance with the present invention;

Fig.2 is a. fragmentary View of certain of theaparts of the machine of Fig. 1, showingtheswork support, nozzle,-and w0rk-position-.

ing,;;member. in the. positions which. they lever 62 fulcrumed at its occupy at the time of the actual insertion of a fastening; and

Fig. 3 is a plan view showing the workpositioning member'and presser foot of the machine.

The invention is illustrated in the drawings as embodied in a machine of the type shown in United States Letters Patent No. 246,437, granted August 30, .1881, .on an application of Erastus WVoodward, such machine being commonly known as the Boston tacker. This machine is provided with a head 12 having a camshaft by which the various movements of the machine parts are timed, a tack pot or hopper 14, raceway 16,-driver bar 18, driver 20 and nozzle 22. Driver 20 is reciprocated through nozzle 22 by cam mechanism 23, nozzle 22 being arranged by its upward displacement to control the tripping of the machine through latch and lever mechanism 24, 25, 26, as more fully described in said United States Letters Patent No. 246,437. In this connection it should be noted that the tripping of the machine may be accomplished either'by the displacement of 'the nozzle itself or by the displacement of a latch-controlling member adjacent to the nozzle, the two mechanisms being, from the point of view of this invention, equivalents.

The illustratedmachine is provided with a work support 30 mounted upon the upper end of a rod 32, the latter being mounted for sliding movement in a sleeve 34 carried by a bracket 36 secured to the column 38 of the machine. A lever 40 fulcrumed at 42 to bracket 36 is provided at its forward end with a slot44 engaging a pin 46 carried by rod 32. At its other end lever 40 is connected through a treadle rod 48 to a treadle 50. A spring 52 anchored at one end to lever 40 and-at the other end to bracket 36 tends to rock lever 40 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Fig. 1, this movement being limited by the engagement of a stop surface 54 formed on lever 40 with a co-operating surface 56 of bracket 36. Thus it will be seen that when treadle 50 is depressed, work support 30 is raised, and when treadle 50 is released, work support 30 is lowered.

Depending; from the head 12 of the machine is a bracket-6O havin a bell crank lower end. A

spring 64 anchored at one end to the rearwardly extending arm of hell crank lever 62 and at the other end to bracket 60 tends to rock bell crank lever 62 in a clockwise direction, as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2. The upwardly extending arm of bell crank lever 62 is bored at 66 to receive the stem or a work-positioning member or feeler 68. The latter extends forwardly over a roll or pin 70 carried by a spring-held plunger 7 2 which is carried by the bracket 60. The work-engaging end 74 of the feeler 68 is slender, being reduced so as to be easily threaded through a hole in the work, for example a tack-receiving opening in a metal shank stillening element. The reduced end 74 of the work-positioning member 68 is positioned in the opening between the projections of a bifurcated presser foot 78. Presser foot 7 8 is carried by plunger 72, the latter being normally depressed by a spring carried in a housing in the upper part of bracket 60. A pin and slot connection 82 limits the downward movement of presser foot 78 and determines the normal position of workpositioning member 68 when the machine is at rest.

In the operation of the machine the metal shank member or other perforated article through which a fastening is to be inserted is threaded on the reduced end 74 of the work-positioning member 68 and the work piece to which the perforated member is to be attached is positioned manually in the proper relation thereto. Then the operative depresses the treadle, thus raising the work support 30. After work support 30 engages the Work, its continued upward movement lifts presser foot 7 8 against the compression of spring 80 and since the rear end of workpositioning member 68 cannot move upwardly, the work-positioning member rocks in a counter-clockwise direction (as viewed in Figs. 1 and 2) about the fulcrum of hell crank lever 62, thus being withdrawn as shown in Fig. 2. At this time, of course, the work is clamped between work support 30 and presser foot 78. As the work support continues its upward movement, the work engages the nozzle 22 of the machine, and lifts the nozzle so as to trip the machine, thus causing the reciprocation of the driver and the insertion of a fastening through the perforation in the metal shank piece and into the leather or leather board shank member beneath. While the invention has been herein disclosed as embodied in a machine of the type tripped by the displacement of its nozzle or of a member adjacent to the nozzle, it should be noted that it is not limited to use in connection with such a machine since evidently in various of its aspects it may be embodied in machines of other types.

Having described the invention, what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States is:

1. A machine of the class described having means for operating upon the work, a work support, a feeler arranged to engage the work at a locality remote from the marginal edge thereof and thereby to position the work on the work support, means for moving the work support to operating poition, and means for withdrawing said feeler from the work so as to permit free access of the operating means to the work.

2. A machine for use in the manufacture of shoes having a work support, a feeler arranged to engage the work and thereby to position the work on the work support, a presser foot, and means for moving the work support toward the presser foot arranged to cause the work to be clamped between the work support and the presser foot and to cause the feeler to be withdrawn from the work after the work has been clamped between the presser foot and the work support.

3. A nail-inserting machine having a driver arranged to drive nails into Work pieces, a work-positioning member having a slender end formed and arranged to enter a hole in a work piece thereby to locate the work piece relatively to the line of drive of the driver, means for clamping the work piece thus positioned with said hole in the line of drive of the driver, and means for thereafter retracting said work-positioning member to permit free operation of the driver.

4. A fastening-inserting machine having a driver arranged to insertfastenings into a work piece, a work-positioning member formed and arranged to be threaded through a hole in a work piece to locate the hole in the line of drive of the driver, a work support, means for moving the work support into clamping engagement with the work piece, thus positioning the work piece with said hole in the line of drive, means for withdrawing said work-positioning member from the line of drive of the driver, and means thereafter operative to actuate the driver to insert a fastening into the work piece.

5. A fastening-inserting machine having a fastening-inserting driver, a work-positioning member formed and arranged for engagement with a Work piece to position the work piece relatively to the line of drive of the driver, a work support arranged for movement into engagement with a work piece positioned by said positioning member, a presser foot arranged to co-operate with the work support to clamp the work piece in the position in which it has been located by said positioning member, means actuated by the movement of the work support for withdrawing said positioning member after the work piece has been clamped between the work support and the presser foot, and means for thereafter operating the driver to insert a fastening into the opening in the work piece.

6. A fastening-inserting machine having a nozzle, a fastening-inserting driver reciprocable therethrough, a work support, a work-positioning member having a slender projection arranged to be threaded through an opening in the work to position said opening in the line of drive of the driver, a presser member co-opcrating with the work support to clamp the work in the position in which it has been located by said positioning member, means for withdrawing said positioning member from the line of drive of the driver, and means for thereafter operating the driver to insert a fastening into the opening in the work 7. A fastening-inserting machine having a driver, a controller member arranged by its displacement to trip the machine, a feeler located in the line of drive of the driver arranged to be positioned in an opening in the work to position said opening in the line of drive, means for clamping the work arranged to move the work into engagement with said controller member thereby to displace said member and thus to cause reciprocation of the driver, and means for withdrawing the feeler from the line of drive as the clamped work approaches said controller member.

8. A fastoning-inserting machine having a nozzle, a driver mounted for movement through the nozzle, means controlled by the displacement of the nozzle to cause the reciprocation of the driver, a work support, means for moving the work support toward the nozzle thereby causing the work upon the work support to displace the nozzle and cause the reciprocation of the driver, and means for positioning the work relatively to the nozzle arranged to be withdrawn as the work on the work support approaches the nozzle.

9. A fastening-inserting machine having a nozzle, a driver mounted for movement through the nozzle, means controlled by the displacement of the nozzle to cause the reciprocation of the driver, a work support, a retractable, spring-pressed feeler arranged to be engaged by the work at the point where a fastening is to be inserted and thereby to position the work relatively to the line of drive of the driver, and means for moving the work support toward the nozzle thereby retracting the feeler and causing the work upon the work support to displace the nozzle and cause the reciprocation of the driver.

10. A fastening-inserting machine having a nozzle, a driver, connections between the nozzle and the driver operative to reciprocate the driver upon displacement of the nozzle, a feeler located in the line of drive of the driver arranged to be positioned in an opening in the work to position said opening in the line of drive of the driver, means for clamping the work arranged to move the clamped work into engagement with the nozzle and to displace the nozzle to cause reciprocation of the driver, and means for withdrawing the feeler from the line of drive as the clamped work approaches the nozzle.

11. A fastening-inserting machine having a nozzle, a driver mounted for movement through the nozzle, means controlled by the displacement of the nozzle to cause reciprocation of the driver, a support arranged to present to the nozzle and driver a shank comprising a perforated strip of metal and a base to which the metal is to be secured, a feeler arranged to be threaded through a perforation in the metal shank part to position that part relatively to the line of drive, and means for moving the support toward the nozzle thereby causing the shank parts carried by the support to displace the nozzle and cause the reciprocation of the driver thereby inserting a fastening to secure together the shank parts.

In testimony whereof we have signed our names to this specification.

LESLIE HUGH BENNION. REGINALD BOYD WOODCOCK. 

